Ethics issue: 'nutraceutical' campus sales

By Nick Perry
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

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Conventional medical schools have concerns about one practice that has become increasingly commonplace at Bastyr.

That is the students — now numbering 33 — who sell vitamins and dietary supplements to others on campus. The students, reps for "nutraceutical" companies such as Pharmax Llc. and Nordic Naturals, can expect to earn $50 to $800 a month in stipends and commissions. The companies are betting that when the students buying the products graduate and begin practicing, they will prescribe or recommend them to patients.

The nutraceutical industry exploded across the United States during the 1990s. Annual U.S. sales are now at $18.8 billion, according to the Nutrition Business Journal. An increasing amount of Bastyr's research is also funded by such companies.

There is no parallel practice at the University of Washington, said Dr. John Coombs, an associate dean at the School of Medicine. On ethical grounds alone, faculty would not tolerate an infiltration of pharmaceutical companies into student ranks, he said.

Bastyr President Tom Shepherd defends the practice. He said the school maintains close ties with the industry but is careful to weed out products with overblown or inaccurate claims and does not allow commercial considerations to influence what is taught.

Christie Fleetwood, who receives a stipend and some free products for representing a company on campus, said medical doctors are under far greater pressure to prescribe certain drugs because they are constantly "bombarded" by pharmaceutical marketing.

"It's not like that (here)," Fleetwood said. "We are not allowed to do a hard sell at all."

But Bastyr acknowledges that what may have begun as a casual relationship is likely to come under closer ethical scrutiny.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com

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